Verso Food, the Finnish developer of fava bean foods, launched its new production facility in Kauhava on 2 April 2019. Paula Risikko, the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland, inaugurated the new production facility. Completed on schedule, the new facility will process Finnish fava beans into innovative raw materials for both consumers and professional kitchens. The Kauhava facility will eventually employ 20 people and the investment is valued at EUR 11 million.
Production of the hugely popular Härkis® product family will continue at Kauhava. Verso Food is also starting up an entirely new business: a component business that drives further international growth.
The new Kauhava production facility will produce raw material components, drawing on Verso Food’s special expertise, patented production methods and Finnish fava beans. Carefully selected partners take care of the final shape and packing of the products developed at Kauhava, in line with each local market’s food culture. The prepared raw materials can be used to make different types of Härkis® or a wide variety of other fava bean products.
“At Verso Food, we focus on our competence in fava beans and on product development. We offer our partners consumer insight, product development support and a complete brand and marketing strategy. We are engaging in a new kind of export of a clean, Finnish agricultural raw material. We have every reason to be proud of this new way of thinking and introducing our country’s fava beans and our know-how to the world,” says Tomi Järvenpää, CEO, Verso Food.
Sustainable business model based on consumer preferences
“The entire business model has been designed from a sustainable point of view. We provide an efficient and eco-friendly supply chain, in which plant-based food and the delicious and ancient Finnish fava bean take centre stage. We have developed our competence in food to a point where we are able to build a global success story in a sustainable way that consumers value,” says Järvenpää. “Reducing food waste is also important: production in the target country is simple when the raw materials have been prepared in Finland,” says Verso Food’s CEO Tomi Järvenpää.
Building local partnerships also bring added value to commercial competition. At the core lies respect for the local food culture and taste.
Further information
Tomi Järvenpää, CEO, Verso Food
tel. +358 40 547 6020, tomi.jarvenpaa@versofood.fi